The Neurode Crusade

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Well done. I like the custom greaves.

[Ciler]

It isn't hard, I highly recommend it! It's a great way to customise your miniatures in unique and (after the initial investment in green stuff) cheap ways if you're not comfortable with your sculpting skills. If you want to get into it, you should look into Instant Mold (if it's still manufactured) or Blue Stuff.

As an aside, I know it is the case in France but may also be true in other countries : you may be able to procure blue stuff cheaper than ordering it from greenstuffworld or the likes by looking up Oyumaru in your local arts and craft store. it is the same compound as blue stuff and around here anyway it comes around 10% cheaper.

[Brother Christopher]

I decided to add an option to include "Primaris" in my Crusade. Of course, I still have not come to terms with the larger, better models and at this point I doubt this will ever be the case. Still, if I finally get myself to play a game or two, I'd like to use the ridiculous Hellblasters or Intercessors, who seem to be good at holding objectives and are currently the cheapest wound per points in the Codex.

 

Under the assumption that I will not play in a competitive environment and that people should be okay with proxied models, as long as they are easily discernable as the proxied thing, I've come up with a simple solution - my Primaris will stand on larger bases. This should not be an issue, especially that I remember playing against armless Space Marine bodies or other unfinished models. Also, I'm in some trouble with my scratch build vehicles already.

 

I bought 98% of my stuff before GW decided to shift to the larger bases and I don't feel like rebasing my Crusade and paying astronomical sums for buying 180-200 bases for my power armoured Marines. The prices of bases that I can find are ridiculously high and for the number of bases I need I could buy something better for the hobby, basically two Land Raiders/Storm Ravens (not to mention non-Warhammer stuff) and I would still have spare change to waste on a board game. Sorry, but no - I'll pass. Still, I have around ten 32 mm bases in my collection and nothing to do with them.

 

The first Primaris squad is the Hellblasters. I will most likely paint them as Sword Brothers, with back and red pads to justify the better stats. All the models have some kind of additional helmet lenses/targeters. This, with a distinct paint scheme of the plasma guns (representing 'Neurode pattern' guns using custom plasma coils), should represent the weapons' improved stats.

 

 

The second Primaris Squad (count-as Intercessors or bolter Reivers) will be a 5-man squad of MK IV armour marines. I feel that I will paint them trying to reproduce the paint scheme used by members of Delta Squad from the Republic Commando video game - I remember that I loved it and my nerd/hobby life had been under its influence for a long time.

 

I also though about increasing the height of the models using scenic bases, but ultimately I figured that I don't care that much about size at the expense of additional work I don't want to do (firstly, because of the effort itself, secondly, I'm not a fan of entire squads of units standing on dramatic rock formations). I may just hope that my potential opponents won't either.

 

What do you think about my ideas? Would you say no to playing against an opponent using small bases for 'regular' Marines and large bases for 'Primaris' Marines?

[Marshal Wolfhart]

I wouldn't decline any of that. I am kind of liberal however, as long as games remain enjoyable and fun for all participants.

 

There's no paragraph in the rulebook that makes a certain base size mandatory. I got all my stuff on the old small bases, too, and i didn't ever get called out for that. Add to that i play almost exclusively at the local GW store...

 

Considering the Primaris i could imagine people to be bothered, as there are official models and they are actually dirt cheap to get online through the starterbox(-es).

That said I'm always in for a cool conversion and paintjob and as long as they are, as you said, discernable from regular Marines - why not?

 

In a pinch they could always be company veterans with plasmaguns, so you might want to keep a list up your sleeve if your opponent declines counts as.

(That's what i do for my Eldar, there's a case of codex vs. index. If my opponent is bothered i got a backup list to still get a game in good spirits.)

[Marshal_Roujakis]

The only issue I could find is that while it may be ok for your opponent, I would advise against playing in events, tournaments or at GW HQ if that is how you're going to roll with Primaris... those guys are particular at WYSIWYG, and they have an exclusive ruleset now that only allows units to be played as what they are represented...

 

So, no more using a plastic cups as Drop Pods :p

[Brother Christopher]

Thanks for the feedback. I know that Primaris are cheap and easily accessible, but I feel I need to uphold my personal statement of sorts and I keep refusing to buy any of the new infantry, as cool as they look. What consoles me is that currently the Primaris range looks awesome but only when you have not more than 20 units - the options to repose them seem very, very limited.

 

Luckily, I'm not planning to participate in any tournaments as from my experience they bring out the worst in people, including me. My 'competitive' experiences from a couple of years ago filled me with dread, especially when I discovered that I really care about that half a missing inch. But, if I happen to entered a tourney, I'll make sure that all my units are WYSIWYG to the letter (maybe with the exclusion of grenades and pistols). Also, there are no official GW stores in my areas, as far as I'm aware, so there shouldn't be a problem with that.

 

Currently, I am in the process of organising my army. I'm focusing on my power armour units, as they're in the worst state by leaps and bounds. Yesterday, I've taken out all the boxes I stored my bits in and at the moment in the process of placing them in relevant slots in a accessories box I had bought years ago with the intention of organising all the parts I gathered over the years. I should be done with this today and have three boxes, instead of a dozen. That's progress, right?

 

Organising the bits and used Marines also helped me to plan ahead the composition of my Crusade. According to most up-to-date estimates, I have ~70 plastic Marine bodies at my disposal. That's a terrifying amount, but the state of my collection seems to become now less overwhelming. Knowledge is power, as they say - and it's nice to know what one bought over the years.

 

I also feel like experimenting now. I want to try painting a batch of fully assembled Marines, with bolters and heavy weapons glued on. Of course, I want to do this only to the grunts - Veterans and characters will still get 'proper' treatment. I've always painted my units without arms/weapons, to get all the chest details right, but at a conceptual stage, skipping the detail hidden by the guns should save me some time without a significant loss in final quality.

[Brother Christopher]

 

Here's more twists and turns linked with getting my army properly running. I decided to finally do something with my pewter heavy weapons and assemble the 'hybrid' devastators in my force. Oh. Holy. Emperor. Do I regret it now! It took me over an hour to get this together in a a reasonable way. There's still much work ahead of me, though - aligning the cables, the backpack and (surprisingly) the torsos with one lascannon and one plasma cannon was literally impossible. I don't know, maybe they were designed to work with different Marine bodies, but I think I found some ancient plastics to go with them and they didn't really fit.

 

Some time ago, I were quite happy having these weapons as I had seen them as objects of collector's value. Pewter models were an important part of 40K's history, after all. While I still find fully metal models (minus backpacks) quite nice to have (especially some of the more awesome sculpts, like our unique characters or the UM Honour Guard), 'hybrid' models are an unspoken pain in the neck.

 

I'll post detailed pictures when I'll be done with filling the gaps in with green stuff and plasticard and attempting to cover the awkward positioning of the Devastator's arms with Emperor knows what.

[Brother Christopher]

While working on the gaps left after my necessarily crude assembly of the metal elements, I realised that my lascannons were incomplete. The original sights were missing! Luckily, my fury caused by the mismatching parts has subsided by that time and I decided not to be lazy and find a solution to the problem. There were two options I considered: plasticard or green stuff. I decided to go with plasticard.

 

 

 

The result is satisfactory - I think that, when painted, these will look quite indistinguishable from the real deal. Note that I somewhat tweaked (basically 'reversed') the layout of the original sights and ignored the small cable bit. Unlike attaching the arms and backpack to the plastic body, the entire process of 'designing' and 'executing' the parts took me about 15 minutes. What do you think?

[Marshal_Roujakis]

The Sights are looking sharp and accurate ;) now get rid of that hideous mold line on Brother Derpy Shooter's Knee cap ;)

 

I use to like getting a chance to buy pewter stuff off of people thinking that I hit gold whenever I buy some really old metal bits... then I came to realize the amount of work I have to do ensuring the damn thing looked good when finished... like filing off mold lines off off metal miniatures, leaving a thin powder of metal dust over my table... and filling out gaps with green stuff, especially if the thing doesn't align and finally getting cuts all over when I have to trim off those extra metal drips from that those things get from production...

 

The only good part was that unlike resin, it's a lot easier to bend things back into shape or bend metal figures with long limbs to poses of your own choosing

[Brother Christopher]

Thanks for spotting the line, I don't really know how I failed to remove it. Regarding pewter models, I feel the same and couldn't have put it better myself. The excitement for getting something out of production, followed by frustrations during assembly and, sometimes, after a model is done, when paint chips off so easily. Still, in a perverted way I think they are worth the effort. Most of it probably stems from my beginnings in the hobby, when pewter usually meant something premium. Now, its an inconvenient relic, but I still 'love' it and there's no comparing them to resin, which due to its fragility is even a bigger pain to have than the heavy metal stuff. I can't stress enough how I dislike resin models! Regardless, I think that plastic is superior in almost all respects - it is simply easier and nicer to work with. The only reasonable exception that comes to my mind is that you can effortlessly remove paint from pewter.

 

I have reserved bodies for the remaining heavy weapons. I want sets of four of each cannon, but only have three heavy bolters. Do you think that heavy bolters are better on Scout models or Power Armour models? The thing is that I have 2 for Scouts, but am not sure whether I want to convert one of them for a PA Marine, or leave it as it is and equip two Scouts. In an unrealistic setting, would you rather see 3 Crusader Squads and 2 Scout Squads with heavy bolters or a Devastator Squad with 4 heavy bolters and 2 Scout Squads?

[Marshal_Roujakis]

What's a Scout Squad?

 

:D

 

That aside... I seldom use Scout squads mainly because I find Crusader Squads superior to them, especially in my meta where Special Weapons are far more necessary than heaps of Bolter fire (Power Armor meta...) that saying, I do have a Crimson Fists Scout Squad that are all equipped with Sniper Rifles, but I didn't add in a Heavy Bolter to them since I'd prefer to use them in taking out weak characters... so the more Sniper shots, the better...

 

I do have a HB Devastator squad, where there are 4 Heavy Bolters on them and one of them is a Marine with the Scout Heavy Bolter... in the current system it wouldn't really matter much mainly because Split Fire is now available to all models, so you can use that Heavy Bolter regardless of which squad would have them... it would just come down to personal preference and if you don't mind having the HB on a slightly less durable platform (Scout 4+ Sv.)

[Brother Christopher]

I will probably do the right thing, so I'll convert the 4th HB from a scout's HB to have 4 to match the other fours of heavy weapons. However, I'm feeling a bit lazy and two HB scout squads (I know, I know) seem like a good option as a cheap filler, allowing to conveniently fulfil the Troop requirements.

 

Over the weekend, I've been working on my collection. I assembled around 20 PA Marines (for now, most of the models are in the 1st stage of assembly - I want to get back to them and add accessories later; for now I need to make sure that I have the necessary number of models for each role). I still have around 40 to go, but for the first time in years I have a feeling that it is possible to complete my BT army project in a more reasonable time frame than 5 years. If I manage to keep my current pace of organising my force, I should have all my (plastic) power armour models sorted out and ready for painting by the end of this year. I'm aware that, as far as miniature soldiers go, there's a long way to go from 'assembled' to 'painted', but I'll at least have a grasp of the size and composition of my Crusade. Organising my collection into "roles" (models designated for a specific role, like 4 power swords, 4 power fists, 3 melta guns etc.) is oddly satisfying and motivating. This definitely marks an important transition in the state of my hobby - moving from hoarding to assembling provides me with the much-needed drive.

 

I'll be posting some group pictures, as well as close-ups on the more interesting kitbashes later on.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

The lascannon-mounted sniper scopes are a great idea!

[Brother Christopher]

Today, I tallied all my Power Armoured Marines. This was a huge feat and I want to share the result with you. Not all of the models are assembled, but when they will be, the Neurode Crusade shall consist of:

 

Crusade Command
10 High Commanders*
1 Emperor’s Champion
2 Honour Guard
2 Company Veterans
2 Standard bearers
3 Apothecaries
3 Chaplains
5 Techmarines
2 Company champions (one with ‘relic blade’, one with sword and shield)
1 Crusade Champion (two swords)

 

Initiates:

20 Initiates with pistols and chainswords
10 Initiates with bolters
10 Initiates with magnetised bolters (swappable weapons)
3 Initiates with plasma guns
3 Initiates with melta guns
2 Initiates with flamers
2 Initiates with grav guns
24 Devastators (4 pieces of each heavy weapon)
20 Initiates with jump packs

 

Veteran Initiates**
1 Initiate with thunder hammer
2 Initiates with a pair of lightning claws
2 Initiates with a single lightning claw
3 Initiates with a power axe
5 Initiates with a power sword
5 Initiates with power fist
7 Initiate-sergeants (swappable weapons)
2 Initiates with combi weapons
3 Initiates with signum
5 Initiates with special issue bolters
5 Sternguard (‘Tyrranic Veterans’ + Marine with heavy flamer)
5 Hellblasters (non-Primaris)
5 Intercessors (non-Primaris)
5 DA Veterans

 

Sword Brethren
6 Vanguard Sword Brethren
7 Vanguard Sword Brethren with jump packs
5 Sternguard Sword Brethren

 

The list does not include units in other types of armour and bikers yet.

 

* I have these models: Helbrecht, custom Marshal, ‘Web Exlusive’ Vet. Sergeant, 3x spare Sword Brethren, Seraphicus, Sicarius, AoBR Captain, plastic Captain with power sword and combi-grav. Some will act as Marshals, some as Castellans. I haven’t decided what to specifically do with the models yet, especially the spare Sword Brethren. I just know that I want to have a variety of wargear options covered, including jump packs.

 

** a work in progress name for Marines with special weapons. I don’t want to have too many PA Sword Brethren, that is why I decided to use the usual BT colour scheme for the most of my troops. Some of these will probably get a distinct scheme to mark that they are members of special formations.

 

I am slowly assembling the models, I still have around 30 Marines to build. After I’m done with my PA contingent, I’ll move on to painting and organizing the Neophytes, bikers and Terminators I have.

Edited November 30, 2017 by Brother Cristopher

[Aegir_Einarsson]

A group photo of This goodnes Please sir!:)

[Hawklynn]

Five techmarines? Dude, lay off the clutch.

 

Also, I agree with Aegir. Group Photo please!

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Five techmarines? Dude, lay off the clutch.

Someone needs to keep the Chapter's Land Raider Crusaders in good repair.

[Brother Christopher]

Would you be so kind to give me some more time, like up to a month? Obviously, I'd really love to take some photos of my entire painted army, but that's something very far off. As such, I'll settle with the crusade "as is." But I want take photos of all my units assembled (i.e. standing on bases), as soon as I'll pull this off.

 

Regarding the Techmarines... Yeah, over the years I bought couple of models here and there, all for a good price, though. Similarly, I kind of think that I have too many Chaplains (in addition to the three listed above, one with jump pack, one OOP and one Grimaldus, I have one in TDA, one on a bike and one in... a Land Raider). But I guess this is what happens when your purchases spin out of control. One might call it "having a problem", but I felt like the expression "collecting zealously" is more suitable...

 

As a side note, I realised how monotonous 40K miniatures may get. I mean, I have had a huge collection of bits coming from a variety of kits: old and new Tactical, Assault, new Devastator, BT Chapter Upgrade, BA Death Company, DA Veterans, Vanguard, Sternguard (plus green stuff) - you name it, and had a nice selection of bits. I were able to kitbash some nice, unique models, but the more interesting bits quickly run out or became repetitive. It suddenly appeared to me that it seem like a 40K army wasn't designed to grow to a massive collection. I can't imagine the amount of work one has to put into making one of the more neglected army who have 2-3 boxes with interchangeable bits and not the entire Space Marine range interesting. I imagine that Primaris quickly turn quite boring too. Sure, the poses appear bettter, allowing for a variety of ways of holing weapons, but I can't imagine putting together more than 30 of these. On the other hand, why wound anyone, considering what one can do with a Primaris list so limited in the number of models on the table.

[Marshal_Roujakis]

I went with painting in regards to making my models more interesting... I realized this after assembling 50 Templars or so, that once you've used a but thrice, then there's only so much you can do with it model wise... so I had to be really inventive with the painting...

 

As for Primaris... they aren't supposed to be unique to one another apparently... those guy spparently follow the tried and true boring indoctrination by Guilliman's Codex which the Ultramarines followed... so majority of them should be monotonous and as plain and as bereft of iconography as can be...

[Sword Brother Adelard]

I doubt that. One of Guilliman's (many) disappointments since his return has how slavishly the codex had been followed in his absence. It was never meant to be so rigidly applied. So I would imagine the Indominatus lot would have been more flexible.

[Hawklynn]

But I guess this is what happens when your purchases spin out of control. One might call it "having a problem", but I felt like the expression "collecting zealously" is more suitable...

 

As a side note, I realised how monotonous 40K miniatures may get. 

 

Collecting Zealously? I will have to remember that next time my wife complains about all my bitz.

 

I feel you on the burn out. I have a few more models to get my army to speed and then I plan to paint some fantasy minis from another company.

[Brother Christopher]

I'm back with a minor update.

 

1. I'm mostly done with assembling my PA Marines. I still have 10 models to go: 7 Assault Marines and 3 Characters.

 

This is the the result of my work work in November (and years of hoarding before that): around 45 pre-assembled Templars, all crammed into a little box (still, larger than GW's transports!):

 

 

2. I did some more maths and in addition to the ~202 PA Marines (including 30 with jump packs), my Crusade has 25 Neophytes, 17 Bikes and 49 suits of TDA.

 

3. I had a great idea. At least it still seems it's great. Years ago, I started a scratch build Caestus Assault Ram. With other, more interesting projects, it was postponed (or almost entirely scratched) at least three times. The fact that I read something about the fluff behind the model didn't help too, as after giving the concept some thought, I realised that it doesn't fit into my Crusade's fluff. Moreover, I have never been a huge fan of the looks of rear of the model, with its impractical wings, but wanted to have one in my army due to it's "in-your-face" nature and pretty cool rules. Now the rules were gutted, so that incentive to finish the model disappeared too. The project had been revived some time ago - with my new philosophy and new-found love for customisation, I figured I can improve the flyer. Unfortunately, the idea coincided with me moving to a new flat, so the project died once again.

 

Yesterday, while organising some of my hobby stuff, I found the half-finished Caestus tucked in a box and I felt nostalgia and regret. 'It would be cool to have this finished,' I thought to myself, 'but I have other things to do and don't need another flyer outside of my complete formation.' But then it struck me! I have 10 count-as Primaris who would use a count-as Repulsor. While I like the original model (with most of its 99 weapons removed, however), I don't feel like buying anything from GW at the moment, especially something (more) from their Primaris range. But I also like assembling custom vehicles, forged in the factories of Neurode.

 

All in all, my Caestus will become a Repulsor. It will still remain a hideous brick, but instead of being a flying brick, it'll be a hovering brick. This is the concept: the central part will be moved forward and will be on-level with the "prows". On top of the entire thing, there is going to be a turret. The parts rear parts of the prows, where the engine air in-takes are located, are going to be extended to the front, most likely so that they are level with the central hull. Probably, one of the extensions will house a heavy bolter/lascannon.

 

I'm still wondering about the doors/hatches, however. After looking at the Custodian tanks deigns, I'm not sure, but I think I want them at the back (for the cool looks and a way of filling in the large open space). And... maybe at the front, like in the original Caestus - it's probably the way the Templars like it. On the other hand, the vehicle is supposed to be more or a troop carrier than assault (troop carrier) vehicle.

 

Disclaimer: I'm not interested in the vehicle's 'viability' on the table top. For starters, the Caestus-based repulsor is way larger than the original counterpart. I just want to stick to more or less compatible weapon loadout: twin botlers/lascannons (mounted somewhere on the hull, either one of the "prows" or the "hull" between them), turret-mounted heavy lascannon (thing) and a gatling cannon (probably an assault cannon from a Terminator or Land Speeder kit)

 

If I'll get to play a game, I'll make sure to find an opponent who's okay with the proxy.

 

What do you think?

 

And here's what I have already assembled and dry fitted to show the general direction/idea the project will be heading in.

 

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Considering the Caestus is still notably larger than a Repulsor, maybe you can squeeze in the Taurox's twin-autocannon turret and the Land Raider's twin-lascannon sponsons, and claim it's an Astraeus?

[TheOneTrueZon]

YES! I eagerly anticipate seeing your build on this one. All ideas change over time, I'm glad you come back to old projects with a new light. The spark of creation can never be quenched!

[Brother Christopher]

@Bjorn - Thanks for the out-of-the-box thinking! I'll pass on the idea - I want a transport vehicle for my Crusade. Also, the Astraeus so repulsive that I don't even want to allow it to even the concept of a custom vehicle. When it comes to super heavy vehicles (yes, I still believe in the terminology rooted in 5th edition), I'd prefer a custom Fellblade or a Mastodon. Speaking of the latter, in the far future, when most (or all) of my 'regular' stuff is done, I want to scratch build a "Mastodon" inspired by the huge, strange vehicle from the 4th Edition BT cover art. I even did some sketches of some of my design ideas/solution/bits I want to implement. I somewhat can't wait to get that started, but the reasonable part of me hold me back - after all, I still need to paint around 150 Marines and a couple of vehicles.

 

@TheOneTrueZon - I will do my best not to let you down! I imagine that the picture I provided is kind of meh, but I just wanted to see whether it is possible to place a 'tank turret' on a Caestus-based chassis in a way that looks decent/cool. I will probably get cracking on the project soon - there shouldn't be too much to do, apart of finishing the prows and building the turret. Realistically, I imagine I could have the vehicle assembled by February, which is relatively soon, considering how much some of my other plasticard projects took (or are taking).